This was done using an Arduino hooked up to four Sparkfun MPR121 Capacitive Touch Sensor Breakout Boards, allowing them to act as keys. These inputs are translated via the Arduino into a standard output (we assume USB) that can be plugged into any computer. Additionally, a Sparkfun MP3 trigger board was used to control the sound effects. Rounding out the build, a Raspberry Pi computer was used to run the human machine interface, a large plasma display.

Be sure to check out this keyboard in action after the break. If this isn’t enough alternative input fun, why not check our post about how to make a banana piano and giant NES controller.

3 thoughts on “Hacking Beer Cans for Fun and Publicity”

Emoticons for sticking my tongue out and making raspberry noise. One could never guess the layout of the notes. No proper speaker(s) seen. Proper doesn’t include thin tweeters in TV screen! There are alternative keyboard layouts, this is not one of them.